Sleep hygiene simple refers to our sleeping habits. Good sleep hygiene leads to better sleep and poor sleep hygiene often leads to inadequate sleep and experiencing increased levels of fatigue when awake.

A good sleep routine usually involves some, or all, of the following:

Having a routine
Not staying up too late
Ensuring we reduce stimulants in the hours before we want to sleep (e.g. caffeine, nicotine)
Limiting alcohol
Choosing relaxing activities and avoiding overstimulating ourselves with late-night activities
Having lighter snacks before we sleep instead of heavy or spicy meals
Choosing warm-toned light (relaxing) instead of cool blue (stimulating) light
Reducing distracting light and noise in our sleep environment
Ensuring good ventilation and comfortable temperature where we sleep.

A note about routine

We know there are two different biological ‘clocks’ that influence our sleep, by regulating our core body temperature and hormones. Understanding these and getting in to a good routine managing these can help us get our bodies into a good pattern for better sleep.

The two ways to influence these biological ‘clocks’ to assist sleep are by managing:

Cues from the physical environment e.g. Light/dark cycle of day and night; sounds etc.
Cues from the social environment e.g. Meal times; periods of social interaction

This means that changes in the physical environment or social conditions impact the body rhythms that disrupt sleep. So, when needing to improve sleep remember that a good routine is a key factor!